Justin Trudeau's Prioirities are not the Priorities of Hard-Working Saskatchewanians

March 26, 2017

Saskatchewanians and all Canadians were hoping for a better outcome from Justin Trudeau’s Liberal budget announced this week.

At a time when Liberals in Ottawa are making life more expensive for us here in Saskatchewan, Justin Trudeau could have offered lower taxes and a job creation plan that actually works.

Instead, all of us are being nickel and dimed by this Prime Minister so that he can continue to fund flawed Liberal ideas. The budget they unveiled this week demonstrates very clearly that they simply do not understand hard working middle class Canadians who are having a hard time making ends meet.

For those of us who live in rural areas, this Liberal budget has some real implications. Instead of assisting farmers, the budget proposes an end to grain referral cheques, which will take away their ability to plan their taxes accordingly. It also re-affirms the Liberal commitment to bring Canada into the international Arms Trade Treaty, which has the potential to affect law-abiding firearms owners. Further, rural Canada is excluded in the small amount of infrastructure funding allocated in the budget - the majority of which will be going to Canada’s largest cities. Overall, this budget shows that rural Canadians don’t really matter to Justin Trudeau and his Liberals.

For families, this budget eliminates the investment tax credit for child care spaces. Also, if you take the bus in Prince Albert, you can no longer claim the Public Transit Tax Credit as it was likewise eliminated. Don’t forget, these tax hikes are on top of the tax credits the Liberals already took away from families since their last budget, such as the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit, Children’s Arts Tax Credit, and income splitting for families. Further, students can no longer claim the tuition and textbook tax credits brought in by the previous Conservative government to help with their education costs.

If you’re a business owner, there’s nothing in this Liberal budget for you, even though Saskatchewan’s businesses help to make up the backbone of our Canadian economy. In fact, the Liberals have been doing a lot to make small businesses uncompetitive, by forcing provinces to buy into their carbon tax scheme. Justin Trudeau has also cancelled the scheduled reduction of the small business tax rate, on top of his elimination of the Hiring Credit for Small Business and his payroll tax hike for employers.

It is obvious that Justin Trudeau and his Liberals have no respect for the taxpayer. If they did, they wouldn’t have broken their election promise of a $10 billion deficit over two years by gifting Canadians with a $29 billion deficit for this year. Budget 2017 also states that the Liberals will have to borrow $143 billion over six years to pay for their reckless spending without a plan for budgetary balance.

Conservatives are proud to be the voice of the taxpayers of Saskatchewan and we won’t stay silent while the Liberals continue to nickel and dime us, and continue to borrow on our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

Justin Trudeau’s priorities are not the priorities of hardworking Saskatchewanians.